Talespin movie; Finding your Roots, part one, Chapter eleven
Chapter eleven of Talespin movie; Finding your Roots, part one. Story The good-guys in the Sea Duck were making some tweaks to the plane in the hopes to fix it. Oscar was currently working a module in the cockpit. "Oh, where is Ramon or Wildcat when you need them?" he moaned from the complexities of the panel as Baloo enters the hold area and kneels on the floor near the control box, "sir I don't know where your plane gets all this tech, but it has the most peculiar systems, I believe sir, it says that the power coupling on the negative axis has been polarized, I'm afraid you'll have to replace it" Oscar informs, "well of course I'll have to replace it" Baloo remarks grabbing a wire coil and hands it to Wildcat, "here, and Wildcat..." he proposes and the mechanic takes it, "yes?" he asks, "I think we'd better replace the negative power coupling" Baloo finishes and left to check on Rebecca who finishes welding the valves she has been working on and attempts to reengage the system by pulling a lever attached to the valve, but it doesn't budge, Baloo notices her struggle when he came and moves to help her, but she rebuffs him, "hey your worship I'm only trying to help" Baloo insults, "could you please not call me that?" Rebecca orders still working on the stubborn lever, Baloo hears a new tone in her voice as he watches her pull on the lever, "sure Rebecca" he complies, "oh, you make it so difficult sometimes" she teases, "I do, I really do, you could be a little nicer though" Baloo retorts gauging her reaction, "come on, admit it, sometimes you think I'm alright" he adds jokingly as she finally nudged the lever into place and rubs her sore hands, "occasionally, maybe, when you aren't acting like a tomboy" Rebecca teases, "tomboy? tomboy? I like the sound of that" Baloo compliments cradling her hands romantically, "stop that" Rebecca orders, "stop what?" Baloo asks, "stop that, my hands are dirty" Rebecca states, "my hands are dirty too, what're you afraid of?" Baloo replies, "afraid?" Rebecca wonders confused, "you're trembling" Baloo notes, "I'm not trembling" Rebecca lies, then with an irresistible combination of physical strength and emotional power the fat-pilot-bear begins to draw Rebecca toward him...very slowly, "you like me because I'm a tomboy, there aren't enough tomboys in your life" Baloo whispers, "I happen to like nice men" Rebecca points out, "I'm a nice man" Baloo reminds, "no, you're not, you're..." Rebecca corrected but was cut off by Baloo kissing her, he takes his time, as though he had forever, bending her body backward, she has never been kissed like this before (except with her first-husband), and it almost makes her faint, when he stops she regains her breath and tries to work up some indignation, but finds it hard to talk, suddenly Molly appears in the doorway speaking excitedly, "Baloo, Baloo! Oscar and I've isolated the reverse power flux coupling" she announces, Baloo turns slowly, icily, from their embrace, "thank you, thank you very much" he praised, "oh, you're perfectly welcome Baloo" she stutters, with the moment gone Rebecca gets back to work and Baloo fallows Molly. Outside of their safe-haven, the Swatzi-fleet continues to survey the archipelago, intently seeking its prey. One air-carrier brushes against a pinnacle they didn't notice and it's boss was in the middle of conversing to Admiral Houndkoff with others, but the crash interrupts them. "...and that admiral, was the last time they appeared in any of our scopes, considering the amount of damage we've sustained they must have been destroyed" one voice theorized, "no captain, they're alive, I want every scout-plane available to sweep the archipelago until they are found" Houndkoff replies and the transmission ends just when Major Heartworm approaches, "admiral" he asks, "yes major?" Houndkoff responds, "there's been reports of the Iron Vulture nearby" Heartworms informs, "move some of the airships out of the fog so that we can get rid of them" Houndkoff orders, "yes admiral" Heartworm complies and a few airships leave the fleet to keep watch for the air-pirates. Back in Downunda, Kit was never more relieved to see the sun go down. Never in all of his wretched memories of going without food and shelter, of being the street urchin without a place to call home or worse, without anyone who cared, had he ever experienced anything like this. The young-bear had completely lost track of the hours...of anything. He had never felt so lost or so misplaced as he had searching desperately for food, after a completely disheartening and fruitless search for Robert, whom he'd not been able to locate under or anywhere near that pile of rubble that had once been a hospital. He'd searched until he could no longer move, his pain-wracked body giving out on him for one full day. The day he really remembered, a sunrise and a sunset, then...darkness. He remembered vaguely trying to crawl for a distance. Occasionally he would black out: his physical condition not allowing him to do all the things he needed to do, let alone wanted to do. He didn't know this city, it was a deathtrap anyway. Once in a while he would hear a call or someone crying loudly, but he saw so few people that it barely registered. Besides Kit was dangerously thin: skin and bones, tall and gangly, the lack of food had certainly taken it's toll on his appearance. It actually helped him to blend in with the filthy, fatigued individuals who walked around him as though they were in a dream. Kit couldn't remember any of their faces, it was enough of a challenge to keep moving. The scraps of food he was able to find to keep him from dying should not have been fit for consumption under any circumstance, but his body craved only the food (and he's eaten stuff like that anyway), and sporadic rest. Frankly the young-bear didn't know for how long he'd be able to keep it up: the constant bombardment, the overall atmosphere of terror that prevailed everywhere, and the unspoken phantom...the Jepangnesians were coming. The few stragglers that Kit noticed in the corner of his mind seemed frightened, all were going somewhere else, hiding, even if the blocked off city offered no escape, not even for him. If any of these citizens recognized him, they didn't show it. All that mattered was survival...he'd seen older women, teenagers, children, all dirty and terrified. Some had a gray, bleak expression: they were the ones who had given up and would place themselves at the mercy of those who would eventually take this city. Occasionally a clear, penetrating thought would make it through Kit's mental fog of hunger and pain. Like in the hospital...god they were all so very young? was what Robert said true? was this all that was left? then...how could he blame them? how could they then be his enemy? hadn't they suffered as much as the ones who were fighting against them? lost as much? yet...no one on the other side had committed such atrocities as the vague, faceless rumors that had chilled his blood right? then again the Jepangnesians, for all of his admiration of their bravery and determination, their ability to turn the tide of the war, well...to be honest, their similarities with Thembria wasn't exactly what one would call humane. The adolescent didn't need this confusion, what he really needed was someplace to sleep, a decent meal, even some medication for his constant pain, in his ribs and his head, but the thoughts wouldn't release him, and he was unfortunately aware of them, even if at times he was aware of nothing else. A sharp pain, easily recognizable now, hit him in the gut and Kit felt a wave of dizziness hit him. No luck today finding anything...today, how many days since he'd crashed? since he'd seen Baloo and Rebecca? in spite of himself homesickness overwhelmed him, more than anything else, he wanted to go home, he no longer felt cowardly or responsible (though he still didn't want to put them in danger), he felt as insignificant as anything possibly could under these circumstances. This didn't look good...he'd been unsuccessful in finding anything to eat today, it showed. Hysterics, an emotion completely foreign to him hovered around the edges of his subconscious: he had to find something or he wouldn't make it. The bear sat down on the curb of the street, rubble and dust all around him. He'd become so accustomed to it he barely noticed anymore. Without thinking about it the bear put a hand on his head, remembering suddenly what was there: he'd found his hat in the crumbled remains of the hospital (it was on a table with his ascot and hobo-knapsack when he was in the bed, and he found the ascot and knapsack first), any other sign of Robert though...completely gone. Kit had barely registered in that place that he'd been wearing bandages over his torso, still was wearing them actually, though they had certainly seen better days. Thinking, remembering...the bear teenager simply sat there, not noticing the hours that slipped by, his body now too exhausted even to cry out for food: there wasn't anything around here anyway. All Kit wanted was to sit and lose himself for an instant. For once, just once, he would give in and not try to see the bright side of things: it seemed completely hopeless and he was beyond feeling any desire to fight against the devastation that was sucking him in. It eventually turned into night. Did Kit really care? no...but it was getting cold and his body needed food, though the constant discomfort in his stomach had not yet reached that level of agony that he identified with danger. There were different degrees of suffering...and starvation, but he needed to keep moving: staying in one place here was exceedingly dangerous, as though in answer to his thoughts, Kit heard the familiar whistling: shells, bombardment, incoming, the building behind him collapsed in a dazzling display of shattered glass and crumbling walls, the foundation even seemed to dissolve in on itself, Kit found himself being knocked off of his feet: his body, especially his poor mistreated ribcage cried out in protest as he made contact with the hard cement, sharp stings occasionally bit at him as the glass made contact. Kit didn't have the energy to run, so he dove for the nearest shelter he could find: a wrecked-store. A building only a few feet away from the crumbling mess that had been hit suddenly erupted into flames, Kit watched with horrified fascination as the fire retreated then exploded with devastating fury. All along the block buildings were going up. Now all of the ones whom he'd never encountered, all of those who had huddled in one of these deathtraps, hoping to get lucky each time that shrieking shrill warning went over their heads, came running out: there was screaming, crying out, mayhem everywhere, Kit felt himself being jostled, yet no one offered to help him along: people were running for their lives, nearly running the bear-teen over as he struggled to stem the tide of frantic individuals who were threatening to trample him, Kit found himself being pushed down the street, regardless of whether he wanted to go there or not but he didn't mind as long as he didn't trip or lose his balance, he could think of few things worse than being crushed by several apathetic feet who would not care, if they even remembered, what had happened, at least this way he was actually moving away from the scene but it seemed as though the bombs and the shelling were following them, Kit heard a low buzzing, and recognized the sound's origin immediately: three G4M-Betty-bombers that looked as though they were right on top of him showed themselves, then gained altitude as more buildings seemed to disappear into clouds of dust and debris. Strategic bombing...Kit never thought he'd be a victim to it. The bear was pushed along for a time before finally being shoved completely out of the crowd, stumbling and gasping onto the sidewalk, trying to catch his breath. The adolescent placed his hands on his knees, waging a war with his own body trying to will himself to stay conscious, though he kept blacking out. Kit awkwardly half-walked half-crawled over to the bombed out structure behind him, placing a hand on the wall: even that could be deceiving as Kit felt himself fall over, coughing as the bricks gave in, some falling from above painfully hitting his back and legs. The cloud-surfer tried to wipe the dust out of his eyes, cursing at his luck, when he heard some light crying and some much sterner shushing from inside the pitch-black enclosure. Squinting and pushing the hair out of his eyes, Kit gradually saw some shapes emerge before his eyes: there were five children sitting there, four of whom didn't look to be older than ten. Two boys (one a platypus, the other a magpie), three girls (one a snake, the other a kangaroo, and the last a parakeet), all dirty bone-thin and frightened, with huge eyes, the youngest, the magpie boy was sniffling, but Kit let all of his attention rest on the eagle-girl standing in front of the small group: she looked to be in her mid to late teens, she was filthy and bruised with a surprised-look on her face, she...was the ringleader (at least that's what Kit thought). All of the children were wearing clothes that looked as though they'd seen better days, but the quality was still apparent. Whatever situation they were in now they hadn't been in it for very long. Kit slowly tried to get up, realizing how ridiculous he must look sprawled out like that. Two of the children whimpered briefly as he took another step inside. The girl, it was a safe assumption too that she was the oldest, stepped closer to Kit: her face carrying a look of examination on it, she speaks to him in a questioning tone, clearly displaying familiarity to him, although Kit didn't understand a word of what she was saying, it didn't take much for him to get the general meaning, he wasn't sure if he should respond or not, and frankly he would rather leave so he wouldn't bring them any harm: if Jepangnesians find him they would be dead, he turned away and began to walk, but the girl grabs him, she was either crazy or fearless from her curiosity and obviously she cared nothing for her own safety as she stopped him. Kit, his eyes slowly adjusting more and more to the darkness and the chill, noticed something that quite possibly was the cause of their choice of residence: there were several loaves of bread, that's all, in the middle of the small group. Kit saw them...and his stomach painfully twisted as he stared, gradually seeing nothing else. These children were very thin true, but Kit still didn't wanna be with them for too long, he tries to leave again, but the girl still held onto him and wouldn't let him go, giving him a pleading-face, and a bit forcefully pulls him back: she was surprisingly strong despite her state, he saw her point to the shelter with an authoritative-face, acting like a big-sister to him, the platypus-boy tried to do the same, but still Kit resisted, too scared to linger: he'd done enough damage to everybody, sure he was starving, but he was too fearful to accept their hospitality, and he knew what it was to be hungry, he'd already walked down that path once, but Kit wasn't prepared for the puppy-eyes of the little snake-girl, and he finally caved-in at her, reluctantly Kit allowed the eagle to drag him in, then had him sit on a slab, she suddenly looked younger to him, with that sense of loss in her eyes, he looked over to the group of children who stared back with the same expressions: they seem to look up to him, like any parentless-child, he looked at the bread, but turned away for now, he let his eyes rest on the magpie-boy who stared back expectantly, Kit didn't see him...he saw someone else: someone who had had nowhere to turn, who had known what it was like to live in a hovel or in the gutter without anyone to care, what he'd looked like...what he had been, before someone had found it in themselves to step out and give him so much...more than he could have ever wanted, Kit stayed still as he watched the eagle girl kneel down to his level, resting her eyes on the bandages he had, she gently presses her finger on them, but withdraws when Kit winced from it, gently she tries again, trying to survey his damage, making Kit shiver a little, but he nods to show he was okay, she nods back and looked the rest of him over, hovering long on his bad-foot, still healing from that crash in Dracovia, she taps it, receiving a contraction, but that pleased her, she kinda reminds me of Rey he thought, eventually she seemed satisfied and stops, prompting Kit to smile at her in thanks, which she returned, the kangaroo-girl stood up, walks over and tugged at his arm, earning the reprimanding from the eagle-girl who tried to shoo her away, but Kit held his arm to her to say it was alright, and softly sat the child down next to him while thinking of what to say, "Usland" he stated, all of them looked back at him as though he'd lost his mind, Kit sighed but tried again, "Usland...airplane" he adds pointing to his hat, then to the sky, as if on cue, the tell-tale buzzing of another aircraft was heard directly over them and a N1K-george-fighter flies over, making them duck in cover, but fortunately it doesn't bombard anything and leaves as quickly as it came, the platypus-boy made a wing-like shape with his hands and attempted a buzzing sound, imitating the plane then moving his hands a bit, Kit smiled humorously: well a little bit of progress, "Usland" he repeated, slower this time, the eldest girl got up and went outside, then poses to try to imitate a compass, she pointed to her left with her left-finger, Kit walked over and calculated that she was pointing eastward, he shook his head and said "no, not yet, but soon", the girl nods, then pointed westward with her right-finger, Kit nodded to this, and she nods in return and drops the pose, then seemed to be asking a question as she was again giving him a questionable look and pointed at the shelter, Kit guessed she was asking if he could stay with them, but he knew that wouldn't be a good idea and said "no...I can't stay in here...I can't", he pointed one finger downward, then motioned to the room while shaking his head, for emphasis he repeated the words "I can't stay here", the girl looked at him long and hard, then she pointed to the smaller children before nodding, she looked a little sad at his refusal but seemed to understand, Kit could only pray that she did, though he had a good feeling suddenly that she realized much more than just that: they'll be in danger if he stayed, Kit then gathered up some bricks, stopping to rest as his body protested with the emotions and the adrenalin it had just experienced, the eagle was by his side when she saw him keel, but he waved his hand at her to show he was fine, he supposed he couldn't blame them when they asked him to stay, if all their parents were truly gone, they seem to beg him to take care of them, wiping his forehead Kit turned to leave, before feeling someone gently grab his arm, Kit turned and saw the magpie-boy holding out a rather large chunk of bread, the teenager's heart melted as he smiled sadly and shook his head before turning again, but more sharper tugging, more insistent this time caused the bear to sigh and turn to stare at the little boy, who didn't seem to want to take no for an answer, all of the others nod at him as the boy pushed it into Kit's hand, Kit in turn, felt something crack inside of him: it was such a sweet, selfless gesture, but it didn't belong here in this place, again the bear stared down at the child's face and once again...he could only see someone else: someday he would ask himself if he could have done it, if the situations were reversed, Kit remembered something else as well...or someone else to be more specific, and there was one thing he could associate with, with that day, that new beginning, the teen-bear took off his hat and playfully placed it on the boy, it quickly flopped over his head, but the child certainly didn't seem to mind as he grinned widely and grasped at the brim, trying look tough before handing it back to him, Kit took one last look at the small but courageous group, meeting the oldest girl's eyes last, she seemed to be fiercely hiding something, but the small smile she managed to leave him with said a great deal...more than a great deal, it said fathoms, the juvenile-bear turned and headed down the now unrecognizable street, the bread would manage to sustain him for a time...but for how long, who knew. Stay tuned for Talespin movie; Finding your Roots, part one, Chapter twelve Gallery Category:Fanon for the talespin series Category:Fan fiction